Tooth assemblies normally include an adapter which is secured to an earthmoving implement and a tip which is mounted on the adapter and secured thereto by a retaining mechanism. In most cases, the tip has a cavity defined by converging top and bottom walls and generally parallel side walls interconnected between the top and bottom walls with aligned holes in both extending through the center of the tip and adapter which receives a pin or some other form of locking mechanism. During use, loads that are applied to the forward end of the tip is transferred to the adapter through the top and bottom walls that are in contact with mating surfaces on the adapter. This force being exerted on the forward end of the tip is partially transferred to the adapter with a resultant portion of that force acting to cause the converging top and bottom walls to attempt to slide off the mating surface of the adapter. This force must be resisted by the retaining mechanism. Consequently, in many applications, this is the reason that retaining mechanisms have broken or otherwise failed, thus, allowing the tip to disengage from the adapter. Other tooth assemblies have utilized generally flat surfaces in the bottom of a cavity that mate with generally flat surfaces on the adapter acting in cooperation with extensions on the tip which mate in corresponding recesses on the adapter in order to better transfer the loads from the tip directly to the adapter. In these arrangements, aligned holes are normally defined in the tip and adapter through the center thereof for receipt of the retaining mechanism. In still other tooth assemblies, extensions of the sidewall members are utilized in conjunction with corresponding ears on the adapter to receive a locking pin to secure the tip to the adapter. In these arrangements, the loads being applied to the forward end of the tip is being transferred to the adapter totally within the cavity of the tip. Likewise, other arrangements are known wherein the pin retaining mechanism is disposed in the tip and adapter between the sidewall of the tip and the nose of the adapter. As with previous noted tooth assemblies, all loads being subjected to the forward end of the tip is being transferred to the adapter totally within the cavity of the tip.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.